How passion leads to success

The more you read about success stories the more you will realize that successful people share a certain way of thinking and that you can become like them once you start thinking like them.

Many successful people have proven this theory by getting up again and becoming successful more than once after facing devastating losses. Had luck been connected to success in any way then those people might have not managed to succeed for the 2nd and 3rd time after starting all over again.

One of the most important traits a person should have in order to become successful is passion. In his post i will tell you about a real life story that shows how passion leads to success.

Passion, success and persistence

Omar Herrawi, a close friend of mine, was passionate about skating. He used to skate everyday, then one day he decided to start a company that sells skateboards but he had one big challenge, no one used to skate in Egypt (except him i think)!

Omar didn't only decide to sell the skateboards he is passionate about but he also decided to create the market that didn't exist! Today all marketers start by assessing the market needs first before they launch any of their products.

Omar decided to create the market first then to launch the product! Each day Omar used to skate alone and to do impressing tricks in front of the people walking by. Whenever someone used to stop and watch him Omar used to encourage him to start skating as well.

Omar spent 1.5 years during which he only managed to have a team of 30 skaters!
I asked him once, how you kept going for a year and half without giving up even though the growth rate of the skaters was near zero.

He answered "i am passionate about skating and i was really happy doing it even if i am not making any money out of it"

Within few years the skating community had more than 7000 skaters! Omar's company,skateimpact, became the sole distributor for skateboards in Egypt, it became worth millions of Egyptian pounds and it started attracting the media's attention.

Omar's business was featured in business today then shortly Red bull contracted with him and asked him to use his skating team to market their products!

Lessons to learn from this story

So what are the lessons you should learn from this story?
Here they are:

1) Sometimes you have to keep going even if there are no results: For 1.5 years Omar was skating everyday with no real progress. In 18 months he only managed to make a team of 30 skaters! If you want to succeed in life then you must put in mind that during some times you will have to keep going even if you don't see any results. If you persisted the results will show up sooner or later

2) To keep going you need a fuel: Many people tell me that they don't have enough energy to keep going and my answer to them is :Find something that you are passionate about. Omar was happy skating even though he wasn't making any money in the early years. In other words he was very passionate about his hobby and that's why he had the energy to keep going. In the Ultimate guide to becoming rich i said that if you Found something that you are passionate about you won't find any problems in being persistent (see also How persistence leads to success)

3) When your dream is too big facts don't count: Omar could have given up because 1) there is no market for skating in Egypt 2) Skating was a strange sport to the Egyptian culture 3) many people used to make fun of him because he skates at an old age 4) because in 18 month he only managed to persuade 30 persons to skate. At any point he could have stopped and he wouldn't have managed to reach the success he has reached today. If you are serious about success or about reaching a certain dream then facts should not count.

I have managed to become a self made millionaire at the age of 28. This didn't happen by chance because i already wrote that goal down five years before i accomplished it. Becoming rich is not about luck, starting big or being intelligent but its all about having certain beliefs about money and life.